And so, I died. I’m not sure how it happened, or why, but before I could react, the darkness had overtaken me. As the cold set in, my only thoughts were this: The world isn’t fair. It’s so unfair that only the strong can survive there and I was not strong enough. I was smart, made good grades, advanced far in my job through my wits but I want to be stronger, to make the world my bitch. So strong that all would bow in awe before me. <> What? A voice spoke in my head that wasn’t one of my own. How strange. It’s like something crawling around in my skull. A voice that resonated in my very bones. <> Um… what? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My body felt heavy- weighed down. It was so dark. I grimaced at the weigh and felt something fall away from my face. It was suddenly easier to move my head. Mustering up my strength, I shook my head and whatever was covering my face fell away, allowing me to see. Confused, I saw my surroundings. I was in the middle of a vast graveyard. When I looked up, I saw I was sitting beneath a huge dead tree that had… were those corpses hanging from its branches by ropes? I hesitated a little before dropping my gaze as I lifted my heavy arms. What I saw was that there wasn’t anything covering my arms, but they felt so heavy. I clinched my fingers into a fist and tilted my head to the side as there was a wet sound. Holding my hands closer, I saw it, the flesh slowly slipping off my bones. Alarmed, I pushed my hands away, only for the flesh to come unlodged and slip off completely, leaving just the bones. To say I was further alarmed would be an understatement but my alarm became bewilderment as I realized I could still move my fingers. The bones moved as if there were still muscles attached to them. I touched the bones of two fingers together and realized that I could feel too. It was so… odd. I looked down at my arms, my body itself, and saw putrid flesh. Disgusted, I used my skeletal fingers to claw away the rotten flesh and fling it away. I shook it from my body as I got to my feet, watching offal fall from inside my ribcage. I stepped away from the putrid slop and saw what was my old flesh slowly turning into sludge then into a dark purple miasmic vapor. Repulsed, I turned away and gazed down at myself once again. I saw bright white bones instead of flesh. Fascinated, I reached into my own ribcage and poked my boney fingers through the gaps in my ribs. It was the oddest thing. I sucked in a breath, then stopped. How was I breathing without lungs? As I pondered this, several minutes went by without my body telling me to breathe out. When I noticed this, I forced it to happen then waited. There was no desire to take another breath. I had become a skeleton? Really and truly? Like a monster from some video game? My ‘eyes’ looked about but in the darkness, I could see just fine. I could see the old, moldy headstones nearby. I could even see others in the distance. They shambled as they walked aimlessly. Tilting my head to the side, I moved closer and noticed that I could see something over their head. It was a… health bar? Like a green bar that neither gave off light or cast a shadow. As I focused on it, there over the bar a name appeared. “Zombie,” I muttered to myself, my teeth clacking together. Startled by my own speech, I touched my face, only to encounter smooth a smooth bone skull. My fingers dipped into my eye sockets, into my nasal cavity, but I felt no discomfort, nor was my vision disrupted. Shaking my head after lowering my hands again, I set about wandering the graveyard, giving the other undead a wide birth. I wasn’t sure if they would see me as brethren or as foe. I noticed a rather large gravestone up ahead and decided to head towards it. The sparse grass was trampled beneath my feet and small stones sometimes got caught between the bones of my toes, forcing me to stop and remove them. It was really a pain to do, but it didn’t hurt per say, so I didn’t mind. As I got closer to the large gravestone, I saw a figure clad in armor hop up onto it and take a seat. I immediately stopped my advancing as I gazed at him- or I could only assume it was a him since the plate armor seemed very unisex. “You there,” the armored person said to me, confirming my suspicions that it was a male with his ‘voice’ but considering all I heard was the clacking of teeth together, I can’t entirely say for certain. “You don’t look like a mindless skeleton. You don’t even have your weapon materialized,” the armored person continued. “Well, come here then. I said come here!” I took a startled few steps closer and briefly hesitated before finally allowing myself to move close enough to realize that between the gaps of plate armor, I could see bones. This was an armored skeleton! No wonder I heard teeth clacking. “That’s better. You can talk, right?” “I’m not sure how though, without lips or tongue,” I replied warily, watching carefully for signs of danger. The armored skeleton reeked of dangerous power and instinctively I knew he was stronger than I. Much stronger. “That’s called [Skeletal Language]. All skeletons have this skill, which allows the use of clacking your teeth to make words. It’s kind of like Morse Code but your head automatically translates it,” the armored skeleton explained, tapping one metal encased finger against the side of his helmet. “By the way, my name is Duroburos. I am a Greater Skeleton. What is your name?” “My name is…” I trailed off, drawing a blank. I was so surprised that I couldn’t remember my own name that I just stood there with jaw agape. “I don’t remember.” “Oh. That’s a shame… but I’m not going to you, so you’ll have to come up with one on your own,” Duroburos told me, confusing me a little further but after a moment, I merely nodded. “Call me… Morty then. I’m not sure why, but I like that name. It’s not mine, but I’ll use it for the time being,” I told him and he nodded in response. “Well then, Morty. Let me guess… You’re new?” If I had a face, it would have shown my flat look. He seemed to sense that and gave a cackling laugh, though I’m not sure how. “Okay, okay. Stop laughing at me already. Yes, I’m new. I just… woke up?” I tell him and he nodded at that. “Then you don’t yet understand much about this world. I can tell, just from looking at you, that you’re not the product of the spell [Create Lesser Undead], else you would be mindless and already have your gear out,” he told me. “Firstly, I’m feeling generous, so let me explain a few things. Most undead are created through the [Create Undead] spell, or in either it’s Lesser or Greater forms. The undead created through Lesser and the normal spell are mostly mindless with a very small chance of the undead created having a mind of its own. I was created though the [Create Undead] spell and retained some of the memories from the body I was created from. My master died though, shortly after casting the spell and I managed to not fall apart when he died. A unique existence is I.” He paused, probably for drama’s sake rather than to breathe, then continued, “However there are some undead that are created when someone is killed, because that person’s desire to live, either for vengeance or to complete some uncompleted task is so great that the recognizes this and grants them undeath. All of these kinds of undead usually have unique skills as well as an ego that allows them to function.” “What’s the ?” I ask and he holds up a hand. “It’s basically this world’s version of a God. It grants abilities when special conditions are met. It is the voice you hear when you . Before you ask, I’ll get to that in a second. Now back to the original topic, I believe that you’re one of those undead created through the ’s actions. My reasoning is that there are no Greater Undead here besides myself, and I certainly didn’t make you,” he told me and when he saw me tilt my head to the side, he moved as if he was giving a heavy sigh. “Greater Undead such as Greater Skeletons or Wraiths or Wights or Lichs, they all have the [Create Undead] spell. It’s granted upon .” I nod eagerly at his words, so fucking curious about this world that I can’t help but let that desire for knowledge ooze from me. Duroburos shook his head and looked up at the sky before gesturing to a nearby Mausoleum. “Let’s go inside before the sun comes up. I have the feeling I’m going to be explaining all night,” he grumbled before hoping off the gravestone. Even though he was a Greater Skeleton, he was just about a few inches shorter than me even with the armor on. Once we got inside, he sat down with his back against the stone wall while I sat across from him, mimicking him. “Now where was I? Oh right. Before I explain , you’re going to need to know about and other such functions of this world…” He then took the time to explain that all monsters, and some humans, benefit from a leveling system where killing things grants them experience. With enough experience, they and get stronger. The level cap appears to be 100 but when you reach that level, you have the chance to into a stronger existence. He helped me pull up my status window and explained that I was what was called a Lesser Skeleton and would have to level up before I could to be a normal Skeleton. As I stared at my status screen, something he couldn’t see because it was only visible to the person it belonged to, I noticed I had something called a title. I didn’t ask about it, because I read what my title was. [Heir to the Throne]. Somehow it felt dangerous to mention it, so I didn’t. “Now as a skeleton undead, you have certain innate skills. All you have to do is think about the and it will open. There you can read about your skills, how to use them and what they do. For now, look for the skill called [Lesser Equipment Materialization] … See it? Use it.” I did as he requested and jumped a little with surprise as a rusty sword appeared in my right hand. I nearly dropped it but managed not to. “What the hell!?” I gave a surprised exclaim. Duroburos gave a cackling laugh before explaining, “That’s what the skill does. It seems all you have is [Swords – Novice] as a proficiency. With a bit of leveling, you’ll learn an armor proficiency and whenever you use that skill, it will give you armor too. That’s how undead like us create our equipment. It’s unique to Skeletons and is one of our many racial skills.” When I opened my jaws to ask about them, he shook his head, “You can find them in the so I won’t explain them.” I merely nodded at that and set my rusty sword down. “So, you have Unique Skills. I know you must have them. What are they?” he asked after a moment and I glanced through my skills. I saw that I had three… but the one that was the same as my title, I left out. “I have [Human Mind] and [Survival of the Fittest],” I told him and he sat up a little straighter. “I’ve never heard of those before. They’re truly unique. What do they do?” he asked and I took a moment to read through their descriptions. [Human Mind] – Allows full cognitive abilities and thought processes despite non-human body. [Survival of the Fittest] was more of a pain to explain so I did it slowly, one point at a time. “Killing someone/something grants experience depending on whether the person/thing is stronger or weaker than you. Completely overrides traditional experience gaining. Allows for certain skills to grow stronger through use. Has a chance to absorb an ability or skill from a defeated foe with the chance being higher if the opponent is stronger than me or uses the skill many times. Finally, grants the holder the ability to absorb enemy equipment to increase related skills and proficiencies.” When I finished explaining the two skills, I heard Duroburo’s jaw snap shut. “Holy crap on a cracker. That’s… Like the [Human Mind] skill is obviously how you kept your personality after death but that other skill. That’s broken as fuck. ‘Completely overrides traditional experience gaining’? The hell does that mean?” he asked but I shook my head. “I was hoping you would know,” I said softly but he shook his head again. “Not the foggiest idea. But damn… [Survival of the Fittest] … You must have had some intense desires to get a skill like that,” he told me and I stayed quiet. If that was his reaction to that, I was very wary to mention [Heir to the Throne]. Rather suddenly, he glanced towards the Mausoleum door that we’d left open. He got up and shut it quickly before sitting back down. “That was close. The sun is coming up, nearly fried us both there,” he muttered then looked over at me, “As undead, we have the [Weakness to Sunlight] ‘skill’ though it’s more of a trait… basically it can kill us if exposed to it for too long.” “Well it’s a good thing you closed the door then, yeah?” “Yeah…” When the sun had fully risen- I’m not sure how I knew it was- I noticed that Duroburos became less and less responsive. Confused, I watched him eventually go completely still. I was alarmed… for about an hour, before realizing he must be ‘asleep’ or something akin to it. With a shake of my head, I sat back and went back through my to read up on my various skills. Skills and Abilities: *Ultimate Skills: (None Yet) *Unique Skills: --[Human Mind] ---Allows full cognitive abilities and thought processes despite non-human body. --[Survival of the Fittest] ---Killing someone/something grants experience depending on whether the person/thing is stronger or weaker than you. ---Completely overrides traditional experience gaining. ---Allows for certain skills to grow stronger through use. ---Has a chance to absorb an ability or skill from a defeated foe. Chance is higher if opponent is stronger or if the opponent uses the skill many times. ---Grants holder the ability to absorb enemy equipment to increase related skills and proficiencies (explained further down to applicable abilities). --[Heir to the Throne] ---Unique skill/title that prevents holder from evolving away from the direct path to Demon Lord. (Aka if given opportunity to evolve into a different species that branches from the path, option to accept is unusable.) *Passive Skills: --[Skeletal Language] ---Allows user to talk through the clacking of his/her teeth. Also automatically translates the clacking it hears from other skeletons into words in their head. --[Tirelessness] ---Always active skill that prevents the user’s physical/mental stamina from draining. --[Anaerobic] ---User does not have to breathe to survive. ---Chanting is not required to use spells, but spells receive a negative damage bonus if used this way. --[Magic Joints] ---Passive skill that holds the joints of user’s body together with magic. ---Can be dispelled ---If user falls apart, this skill will automatically attempt to reassemble if user has mana. --[Miasma of Undeath] ---Skill that accelerates mana regeneration while in darkness, miasma or around other undead. *Active Skills: --[Lesser Equipment Materialization] ---Allows user to create equipment based on proficiencies and skill level ---Can grow stronger through use ---Special condition: [Survival of the Fittest] allows this skill to absorb equipment from foes to increase experience for this skill. Stronger/Rarer equipment grants more experience. *Proficiencies: --[Swords – Novice] ---Increases damage dealt with Swords and Greatswords ---Special condition: [Survival of the Fittest] allows for this skill to absorb equipment from foes to increase proficiency. Stronger/Rarer equipment grants larger increases. *Magic: ---None *Resistances: --[Status Effects – Immunity] ---Cannot be inflicted with the following status effects: Poison, Dread Poison, Charm, Bewitch, Seduce, Paralyze, Petrify, Fear, Control, Blind, Silence, Slow, Weaken, etc. --[Slash Damage – Resist] ---Grants reduction to slash type damage --[Pierce Damage – Resist] ---Grants reduction to piercing type damage *Weaknesses: --[Blunt Damage – Weakness] ---Blunt weapons do additional damage --[Weakness to Sunlight] ---Sunlight causes damage over time. --[Light Damage – Weakness] ---Light Magic spells/Light Attribute Weapons do additional damage --[Fire Damage – Weakness] ---Fire Magic Spells/Fire Attribute Weapons do additional damage --[Holy Damage – Weakness] ---Holy Magic Spells/Holy Attribute Weapons do additional damage The things that caught my attention the most were the [Lesser Equipment Materialization] and [Swords – Novice] skills. They had special conditions listing that they would grow stronger if I absorbed equipment related to them. I tried it with my rusty sword but nothing happened that I could tell. I summoned the sword and set it by my side once again. Obviously, it wouldn’t grow stronger from my own manifested equipment. Soon enough, boredom began to set in and I idled away the time by standing and swinging the rusty sword around to get a feel for the weight of it. After about an hour of doing this, I saw a small window of light appear, showing my [Swords – Novice] skill and an empty bar beneath it. When I looked at that bar, I noticed it wasn’t empty but rather, it had a tiny bit of experience. Joyous that my hour of swinging the sword around was beneficial, I spent the rest of the day doing this. I didn’t get tired, or sore but I sure as hell got bored quick. And that, with the stirring of Duroburos as the sun set, was how I spent my first night/day in this strange new world.